Honda will recall 35,984 Passport vehicles from model years 1998-2002 in the U.S. to inspect the front brackets of the rear suspension lower trailing links. In areas where road salt is extensively used, the forward mounting bracket for the left or right rear suspension lower link may suffer excessive corrosion. This may cause the lower link bracket to become detached from the frame, affecting vehicle handling and increasing the risk of a crash. A few rear suspension failures of this nature have been reported to Honda, but no crashes have been reported.

Honda is announcing this recall to encourage all owners of affected vehicles to take their Passport to an authorized dealer as soon as they receive notification of this recall from Honda. The lower trailing link frame brackets will be inspected for corrosion, and if necessary, repaired. Notification to customers begins on December 17, 2010.

When Honda identifies concerns of this nature, nothing is more important to the company than fulfilling our obligation and responsibility to alert our customers. To this end, in addition to affected customers receiving notification by mail, owners of these vehicles can determine if their vehicle requires inspection by going on line or calling Honda. Honda owners can go to www.recalls.honda.com or call (800) 999-1009, and select option 4.